January 2022 | Vol. 22 Iss. 13
FREE FROM ACTIVIST TO MAYOR: MONICA ZOLTANSKI’S LONG ROAD TO CITY HALL By Justin Adams | justin.a@thecityjournals.com
T
here will be a new face at the head of Sandy City’s executive branch starting this month, after Monica Zoltanski managed to beat out a crowded field of candidates by the narrowest of margins in November’s election. Thanks to a state law passed earlier in the year, multiple cities across Utah had the chance to try out ranked choice voting, a method that allows an entire field of candidates to advance to a general election and have voters rank them. The results are then tallied in a way that allows each voters’ preferences to be represented in a holistic, rather than binary, way. Additionally, former Mayor Kurt Bradburn’s decision to not seek re-election meant that this would be Sandy’s first mayoral election without an incumbent in decades. These two factors combined to produce an election race unlike any other in the history of Utah, (at least at the municipal level). Four current city councilor members entered the race (Zoltanski being one of them). Another former city council member threw their hat in the ring, as well as a city council staffer. Finally there was Jim Bennett, a local businessman (and son of former U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett). From among that field of candidates, Zoltanski emerged with a 21-vote margin of victory, barely beating out Bennett. Zoltanski credited the close victory with her persistence and determination, as she continued knocking on doors all the way up to election day. “With so many people in the race, I knew to win it, what was going to make the difference is the personal conversations at the door. And I never lost that focus,” she said.
It was a fitting campaign strategy for a candidate who first entered the public spotlight in Sandy city as a grassroots organizer. Open space activism Given everything that has transpired since then, the year 2017 kind of seems like an eternity ago. That’s when Zoltanski learned that Salt Lake County was planning to pave a three-mile stretch of trail within Dimple Dell Park. An avid equestrian and outdoor enthusiast, Zoltanski began organizing a campaign of opposition. She gathered signatures, made shirts and signs bearing slogans like, “Save, Not Pave,” and “Keep Dimple Dell Wild.” She spent hours walking through the park in the winter cold, talking with strangers and raising awareness of what the county was proposing. During this time, she started wearing a red cowboy hat to make herself more noticeable and recognizable during her activism efforts. Well, something about the hat stuck, and became a part of Zoltanski’s “brand” ever since. (It even featured prominently on her campaign signs). “I think it’s a symbol of grit and determination…that one voice can make a difference,” she said, about what the hat represents to people. That one voice did indeed make a difference (as well as the many other voices she added to her own) as then-Mayor Ben McAdams agreed to cancel the plan to pave the trail. Out of that initial victory was born the Dimple Dell PresContinued page 26
Mayor-elect Monica Zoltanski is instantly recognizable thanks to her trademark red cowboy hat. (Justin Adams/City Journals)
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